surface cleaner problems

I have a BE 24" surface cleaner and was using a 4gpm cold machine with 2503 tips. Was having trouble with overlapping leaving streaks up and down cement. So, with following everyone's lead on here, I added an additional 4gpm cold machine and bought a siamese kit to run them together. So at 8 gpm and now using 2505 tips, pre treating once with my leftover SH + surf. house mix, then again with EBC, the house I did today still left streaks where I overlapped with the passes. I used 100' of 3/8" hose connected directly to the siamese kit. It was not that bad on the driveway, but was extremely noticeable on the sidewalks where I had to have 4" overlaps due to the size of the cement. I made a few more passes to blend it as best as I could.

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My question, is there something I am doing wrong, or do I just have the wrong brand of surface cleaner? I thought about switching over to a 4 nozzle bar, but I don't know if that would even work. Thanks in advance.

Hi Ian. I'm going to assume that you know what your doing & have a couple of yrs experience. The nozzles are in line with the spray bar I assume?
You pre-treat the surface & give It adequate time to do its thing...
I would suggest 25025 nozzles. It may just be this one particular job that has given you grief.
If yr D/S,are you removing the injector after application? If not that will cause a serious lack of pressure & flow.
Let us know how you get on.

Any chance of some photo's. They speak louder than words.

Sounds like you need a longer dwell time or your SH is weak. How is the weather up there? If it is cooler, you need a longer dwell time. I had a problem the other day with my SH not working that well. Also put a post treatment down and see if that works.

Mick,
25025 might work at 4gpm, but not at 8gpm. I try to stay as close to 2000 or slightly above due to residential cement. Injector was cleaned and removed before hooking up siamese kit.

Ralph,
Yesterday was in the mid 70's, and I spiked my house mix before using it as a pre-treat. I had approx. 1.5 gallons of mix left (usually mix 3 gals 8.5 to 1 gallon water plus surfactant in a 5er) then I spiked what was left with an extra gallon of 8.5. DS'd it to the cement, then let it dwell while i cleaned out my injector, picked up all my house washing gear, and broke out my cement washing gear. I would say it was about 15 minutes after I applied the first pre-treat that I came back with a 20:1 EBC mix in a 2 gallon garden sprayer and sprayed that on top. Let that dwell another 10 minutes while taking a phone call. Hooked up siamese kit, cranked both units, and went to town.
Thought about post-treating, but also found out the hard way that this yard did not drain as well as I would have liked, especially at 8gpm. From that point, I was trying to limit the amount of water I was introducing.

Oh and yes Mick, you are correct, photos are the best option here. Unfortunately taking a picture was the last thing on my mind - I was too busy scratching my head and trying to get a game plan together. I didn't even take before/after pics of this house - and they would have been good ones to put on my website.

Ian, take it for what it's worth.....Switch to a whisper wash SC with the 4 nozzle bar and this problem will disappear running 8 gpm.....we switched years ago.

Was your ground speed too fast? Did you slow down and still have the over lapping?

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Have you tried Craig's circle method for concrete washing?. Streak fee. don't use chem's just pre soak. Drowning the area with chem's only adds expense. the photo is of a concrete deck at a speedway track which had never been washed in 15 years.

Guy, what size SC to you suggest with 8gpm? I know rule of thumb is 4" per gallon, but didn't know if the 4 nozzle bar affected that. I do mostly residential, but also have a hospital that I am doing their parking lot in stages, so the bigger the better. By the way, I used your shooter tip yesterday at 8gpm and rinsed the driveway. Stood by the garage door and didn't have to move to wash all the way to the street. Homeowner thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread!!!

Michael, I was going at a medium to slower pace. It was mainly on the sidewalk, and I was going slow enough to make sure I was getting the edge against the grass. I was going the same speed with 8gpm as I was using 4gpm so I honestly don't think speed was a problem. I am starting to wonder if it is a distance problem from the end of the tips to the actual surface of the cement.

Wash-it, I have tried that method before on a driveway, but found it takes alot of time, and is more stressful on the body with all of the twisting, pulling, and pushing.

maynianj said:

Guy, what size SC to you suggest with 8gpm? I know rule of thumb is 4" per gallon, but didn't know if the 4 nozzle bar affected that. I do mostly residential, but also have a hospital that I am doing their parking lot in stages, so the bigger the better. By the way, I used your shooter tip yesterday at 8gpm and rinsed the driveway. Stood by the garage door and didn't have to move to wash all the way to the street. Homeowner thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread!!!

Michael, I was going at a medium to slower pace. It was mainly on the sidewalk, and I was going slow enough to make sure I was getting the edge against the grass. I was going the same speed with 8gpm as I was using 4gpm so I honestly don't think speed was a problem. I am starting to wonder if it is a distance problem from the end of the tips to the actual surface of the cement.

Wash-it, I have tried that method before on a driveway, but found it takes alot of time, and is more stressful on the body with all of the twisting, pulling, and pushing.

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Ian, it's either or on size. We run Whisper Wash Classic, Big Guy, & Maxima surface cleaners. For big jobs I would suggest the Big Guy (Love The Name Also..Lol) but for most jobs we run the Classic....you will fly pushing 8 gpm.....Again this using the 4 nozzle bar & downstreamer removed (or by-passed) for maximum flow.

Hi Ian,

Well, You did everything as for the speed. Are the nozzles in-line with the bar? This may sound a little "out-there" however, Was the concrete surface cupped?

Michael

I've used a few different cleaners and they all do it to some extent. Technique is important and the circular technique seldom leaves marks. If marks are there post treating will remove them.


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Well folks, I think I will take everyones advice and go ahead and post treat as needed, and go ahead and buy a second SC - probably a whisper wash 4 nozzle. I want 100% back-up on everything. Too many times I have seen where people can't make money because their equipment is down. I don't want to be another statistic.

maynianj said:

I want 100% back-up on everything. Too many times I have seen where people can't make money because their equipment is down. I don't want to be another statistic.

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You'll never go wrong (or lose money) with thinking like that.......

I second that!!!! I have a back up for everything. All the way down to extension ladders, safety lines, trigger guns, injectors, etc,etc... If a piece of equipment goes down, I'm not shut down.